Star Wars: The Last Hero
by christos200
Summary: This story takes place 100 years after the events of KOTOR. The protagonist is John, a young son of of an aristocrat who becomes a debt slave after his parent's death. Will he manage to stand up to the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Venius? Or is he doomed to failure? Can he control his feelings? Or shall those feelings consume him and turn him to what he has vowed to fight?
1. Chapter 1

**STAR WARS**

**The Last Hero**

One hundred years after the defeat of Darth Revan, the galaxy is once again in turmoil. An unsuspecting Galactic Republic has been invaded by a massive Sith armada led by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Venius. The Republic has been unable to stop his advance and the Sith look poised to dominate the galaxy.

Hundreds of Jedi Knights have perished, countless worlds have been devastated, hundreds of thousands of peoples have been killed and all hope seems lost. But on the neutral world of Carleria a star is about to rise, which may bring once again light to the galaxy...

_Han's Cantina_

Laughter. Jazz music. Smoking. Good looking women. All those things could be found in Han's Cantina, one of the most famous in the small city of Aldera in the neutral world of Carleria. As Carleria was neutral, it's people were not bothered by the ongoing war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. Occasionally, Sith and Jedi would duel on this planet, but those duels were usually between two or a few more hotheaded Jedi and Sith and so did not bother much the people of this planet.

Most people coming here were enjoying themselves. Sons of nobles who had nothing better to do than drink lots of drinks with their father's money. Hardworking people who wanted to relax after a hard day of work. Husbands who wanted to talk with their friends and escape from their wives. Young lovers who wanted to meet. Only one man was not enjoying the Cantina: the waiter, John. Understandably, as he had to run all over the place in order to get the drinks to the costumers and clean the place every two hours. Not to say that as the only waiter of the Cantina, he had to do a job that in other Cantinas it would be done by three or four waiters. His boss, Han, a fat and ugly man in his fifties, was quite stingy with his money and very strict with him.

A man entered the Cantina. That was not something unusual. But his beauty was so uncommon that everyone, even men, turned to look at him and could not but admire him. Some men even felt a bit jealous about his good looks. For few people were as handsome as him. He looked as if he was in his early twenties. He had a long black hair that was shining and was somewhat feminine looking. His stature was tall and he was wearing a red silk robe decorated with tens of valuable gems. His smile was broad and his white teeth shone. Even the saddest people felt a joy upon looking at his smile. He was surely a sight to behold.

John, a man of common looks, could not help but sigh. If only he had such good looks! He himself was nineteen years old, tall and had short black hair. He was neither good looking nor ugly. But somewhere in the middle, as most people. For only a few people are really beautiful or really ugly. In the same way, only a few people are really good or really evil. Most people stand in the middle.

John was thinking of how many girls would fall for him had he had that man's looks, when Han gave him a slap and shouted: "Wake up and go get an order!". John came back to this world and stopped daydreaming. He sighed and went to get an order from that handsome man.

"What do you wish, sir?", John asked.

"Bring me some wine", the man replied, still smiling.

John was ready to go get the wine, but at that time two Jedi Knights entered the Cantina. He recognized them due to their brown Jedi robes. It was not the first time Jedi Knights had come to this Cantina. From time to time, Jedi and Sith would come to this neutral world, mostly to duel in a world controlled by neither the Republic nor the Sith, so no side would have an advantage. For if a Sith challenged a Jedi in Coruscant or a Jedi challenged a Sith in Korriban, they would be doomed even if they would win the duel.

Both of the Jedi were in their forties and seemed like experienced men. They had scars all over their face. Especially the one in the right, whose face was disfigured. Those scars showed that those Jedi had seen lots of action and had survived countless of battles. One of them stepped forward, the one with the disfigured face, and shouted with a loud voice: "Who challenged me?!". That Jedi used the power of the force to make his words echo all over the Cantina, so as to make sure that everyone had heard of what he said.

The handsome man, calmly and still smiling, replied with a single word: "Me".

The two Jedi switched on their lightsabers, one yellow and one blue. Upon seeing this, almost everyone in the Cantina panicked and run out. Only the two Jedi, the handsome man, John and Han remained. Han was trembling, not so much due to fear about the duel but about the money and costumers he had lost. John was excited to see a lightsaber duel. He had always wanted to be a Jedi, and this was the closest experience he could get about how it is to be a Jedi.

In the split of a second, the handsome man shot off from his seat, switched on his red lightsaber and attack the two Jedi. His movements were quite simple, like those of Padawans. He attacked left and right, he did not make any complicated movements nor did he use an exquisite dueling style. But his movements caught the Jedi in surprise due to two factors: they were extremely fast, with almost supernatural speed, and extremely ferocious. So, although simple, his movements were lethal. In only a few seconds he had managed to kill both Jedi.

John was expecting a long and exquisite fight. Actually, duels between experts would usually last for only a few seconds. Only Padawans and incompetent Jedi/Sith would duel for a long time. True experts in lightsaber combat would finish off their opponents in only a few seconds.

The handsome man tossed a coin to John and left. John was still in awe of the amazing lightsaber fight that had taken place when he heard Han shouting all kinds of insults, especially those starting with the letter 'f'. Han's face was red and it looked as if it was going to explode.

John was going to withdraw in order to escape the fury of his boss, but it was too late. "You bastard!", Han shouted. "Why didn't you stopped them?"

John was going to ask how he was supposed to stop two Jedi and a Sith on his own, but Han would not allow him to talk. "Do you know how many costumers I have lost?! I have lost 1,000 credits today. And those costumers may never come to this Cantina again. If they had come, then in one year I would have gained 600,000 credits and in ten years 6,576,000 credits! I will add this money to your current debt!"

"But this is absurd!", John protested.

"Shut up! Go and clean the shop! And you will work for free for me for two decades until you repay this debt."

John sighed. He was already working for free. Actually John had been a son of a rich aristocrat. But his father was accused of helping the Republic with funds three years ago. As the government of Carleria wanted to maintain it's neutrality, John's parents were executed and their property and wealth were confiscated by the state.

John did not have the money to even give his parents a proper burial. As honoring one's ancestors and giving them a good burial were the most important elements in the traditions of the peoples of Carleria, John had to give his parents a proper burial in order to appease their spirits and prove himself to be a filial son. So, he asked Han for a loan.

Han agreed to give John the money he needed for the burial, but with a 450% interest. As no one was willing to lend money to him, John had to swallow his pride, stop his protests and accept the offer. So, for three years John was working for free for Han. Trying to repay a debt that he could never hope to repay. John had become a free worker. A slave, essentially. Not only that, but Han was using several excuses, like this one, to increase John's debt and enslave him for ever.

John sighed. 'I'm never going to leave this world', he thought and proceeded to clean the Cantina. At the same time, the handsome man, who was heading towards his starship, sensed a disturbance in the force. 'Weird', he thought. 'Why do I feel a tremor in the force? Is it possible that there is a man with such a connection to the force here, on this remote planet? Or do my senses fool me?'. After thinking for a few seconds, he proceeded to leave.


	2. Chapter 2

_A week later_

A week after the clash between the two Jedi and the Sith Lord, everything returned back to normal. The duel had been forgotten. People were coming in the Cantina to enjoy themselves. And John was still working as a slave in all but name for Han. Han had asked him to throw some garbage out of the Cantina, since all orders had been served. John expected that Han would allow him to rest a bit, until a new costumer would come. But this was only wishful thinking. While John was in the Cantina, he would never rest.

When he exited the Cantina and walked towards the trash bin, he saw how beautiful the night sky of Carleria was. He looked at all those bright stars. How large the galaxy is! How many words were awaiting for him to explore. He sighed. 'I will never get off this damn planet! I will always be a slave for this stupid old man!', he thought. He wanted to vent his anger but he could not. He had to remain calm.

He threw the garbage to the trash bin and quickly came back to the Cantina, to be ready for any new costumer. And a new costumer indeed came. A young and quite beautiful woman whose black eyes shone like the moon and her fair white skin resembled the ice of Hoth. John knew of this woman, Mary. They grew up together. They had fallen for each other and it seemed that they would marry and live together. But the execution of his parents and his serving under Han brought those plans to an abrupt end. As the daughter of a nobleman of Carleria, she could not have a relationship with the son of a disgraced noble who was working as a waiter.

Initially, John thought that Mary was forced to stay away from him due to her father's pressure. He felt bad for her. Very bad. He thought that he knew Mary well. After all, they grew up together. But, affairs of heart change easily. Especially for young people. Immediately after John became a waiter and when Mary was in deep sorrow, she met a charming young nobleman from Coruscant. She had thought that she would remain loyal to John for all of her life. But this changed as soon as she laid her eyes upon that nobleman. She forgot about John. She could not explain how that happened. Logic would argue that it is impossible for someone to change her feelings so fast for someone she had loved for years. But matters of heart are not bound by any logic.

At first, Mary hated herself for 'betraying' John. But every time she saw that nobleman, her heart would beat fast and she would feel a warmth inside her. So, she eventually came to terms with her heart and accepted that reality that she no longer had romantic feelings for John. But she could not face him, so she send a servant to give John a letter explaining the situation to him. Until now, she avoided going to that Cantina. But after that nobleman, Paul, pressed her too much, she decided to come to Han's Cantina. Paul was supposed to meet an old friend of his in the Cantina and wanted Mary to come with him.

Upon seeing her and Paul, John clenched his fists and felt his blood boiling inside him. But he had to calm down. 'After all', he thought, 'love cannot be forced'. So, he just let out a sigh and went to take an order. That's all he had been doing since the death of his parents. He would just sigh and accept every hardship he had to suffer as unavoidable. He did not have the will to protest anymore. His life was out of his control. He just accepted this fact and swallowed his pride and denied his emotions and himself. His patience would impress even Jedi Masters.

"What do you wish, sir?", John asked Paul. Mary had never told Paul about her previous relationship with John, so he could have never imagined that the man standing before him was once the lover of his wive. Mary did not look at John. She did not dare to look. John himself had managed to control his emotions quite well and he was smiling. But his smile had an aura of vast sadness in it.

"Bring us three glasses of Corellian brandy."

"Alright, sir. May you have a good time in our Cantina."

He went away, supposedly to bring the drinks. But in reality he wanted to go out of the Cantina and stay alone for a few seconds. To think. To bring back past memories. Of past loves. Of past joys. Of past friends. Of the life that had been snatched from him. As soon as he went out of the Cantina and was alone under the dark sky of Carleria, he shouted as loud as he could. He could not hide his emotions any more. He did not care if other people had listened to his cry.

_Above Korriban, Darth Venius' flagship, Arrow_

Darth Venius personal room on his flagship, the huge destroyer 'Arrow', was much different from the one that most would expect that a Sith Lord would have. It actually resembled more of a garden, with tens of different and exotic plants. Those plants were kept to 'life' by a machine that simulated the atmosphere of a garden inside the room. That's why the room had such a fragrance, that resembled the smell of flowers.

In the middle of this 'garden', there was a bed made out of certain flowers and plants. Darth Venius was lying on it, wearing a beautiful red dress made out of silk. In fact, Darth Venius was the handsome man that had killed the two Jedi in Han's Cantina. In that garden like room, he looked even more feminine. His smile radiated a sense of happiness across the room. Besides him, there were eight women, all playing Zither, a musical stringed instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body.

But despite the fact that those women's music was the most beautiful in all of the galaxy, Darth Venius did not seem to be even taking note of them. Instead, he was looking at Admiral Piet, who was the Admiral of the entire Sith Fleet despite his young age, being only thirty-two years old. Most likely due to his "relationship" with Darth Venius. Most people thought that he was a Sith student. They could not have guessed that Piet was actually Darth Venius' lover. But except for Piet and those women, no one else had ever seen Darth Venius dressed like that. Most people always saw him wearing a dark cloak and a mask that was covering his entire face. And when people did see him wearing more colored dresses and being without a mask, they would not recognize him as Darth Venius.

"Am I beautiful in that dress?", Darth Venius asked, laughing.

"Very much, my Lord.", Piet replied. After gaining the trust of Darth Venius, Piet had quite an influence in decision making in the Sith Empire. This allowed him to purge his antagonists in the Sith fleet and secure his domination of the Sith political scene. Now, he was the driving force behind the Sith fleet's defeat of Republican forces.

Darth Venius smiled when he heard Piet's response. But, suddenly, he sensed an echo in the force which almost drove him mad. He let out a scream.

"What is it, my Lord?", Piet asked, worried about Darth Venius.

"It is impossible... Who could have such connection to the force? Who could be so powerful?"

Darth Venius searched his memories and remembered that on the neutral world of Carleria he felt the same feeling, albeit on a smaller scale. He immediately ordered, "Lord Piet, send ten of my best Sith pupils to search the world of Carleria for a force user who is neither Jedi nor Sith!"

"As you command, my Lord!"

Piet rushed out of the room. Darth Venius would have send more men if not for Carleria's neutrality. But he was sure that his pupils would find out the source of that echo in the force. If he could convert that force user to the dark side, then he would surely be able to win the war.


	3. Chapter 3

_Three days later_

The rain was pouring over John's head. His clothes were soak wet. The rain was cold. The wind too was cold. His heart too was cold. The clouds were dark. His future also seemed to be dark. The Cantina was closed today, but he still had to go there to clean the place. He was about to open the Cantina's door when he saw ten dark figures approaching the Cantina. Their movement was steady and slow, despite the storm. The rain was pouring on such a scale that it did not allow John to see who exactly those men were until they had come close enough. Then, he recognized them as Sith pupils. He could tell from their dark cloak and the lightsabers that they were carrying on their belts.

'Why am I so unlucky?', he thought. He tried to hide his displeasure and saluted the Sith. "What can I do for you, sirs?"

Instead of replying, the Sith were examining him from head to toe. John was actually surprised that the Sith would take an interest on him.

One of them closed his eyes and after a few seconds, he commented: "The Dark Lord was right. The force is indeed strong in this place."

John could not understand what they were talking about but he did not want to interrupt them. He had no wish to offend ten Sith. After all he had work that needed to be done. So, he was ready to move into the Cantina when one of the Sith shouted: "He is the one!"

"What are you talking about?", John asked.

Instead of giving a reply, that Sith charged towards John but he was pushed back by an invisible force. John then saw a man in his fifties with grey beard and wearing a brown Jedi robe walking towards the Sith. In fact, it was this man who had force pushed the Sith.

Upon seeing him, the other Sith quickly formed a crescent, holding their lightsaber tight on their hands and facing the Jedi. The "Crescent Formation" was a mostly defensive formation, although it could also be used for offensives. The array of lightsabers, one besides the other, made it difficult to break the formation, as each member of the formation was supported by those standing on his left and right. The crescent structure of the formation made sure that it was almost impossible to outflank it and the only way to do so was to somersault and land behind the formation, an extremely difficult task even for highly skilled Jedi. The formation could also be used offensively, by using the center of the crescent to tie up the enemy while the right and left wings of the crescent would encircle him, thus trapping him inside a circle. Then, it would be quite easy to kill the enemy. This tactic was first used by the military on land battles during the Ancient times, but it was later adopted by the Jedi.

The Crescent Formation was certainly one of the most sophisticated and lethal formations of the Sith. But the middle-aged Jedi seemed not only to not be scared at all, but also somewhat bored. Was this a psychological trick of the Jedi to scare his enemies, was he too arrogant or could it be that he was so powerful that he could break the formation easily, and so did not need to be even bothered about it?

To everyone's surprise, the Jedi used the force to elevate in the air John and then threw him at the Sith crescent. The Sith, fearing that their lightsabers would kill John, something which they wanted to avoid as Darth Venius had instructed them to capture the force user alive or they would pay with their heads if they killed him, lowered their lightsabers and two of them moved forward to grab the unlucky man. John was indeed grabbed by the two men and was safe. Now that he was safe, the two Sith returned back to their positions and held up their lightsabers once again, ready to confront the Jedi. This whole operation lasted only a few seconds as the Sith lowered their lightsabers and moved forward to save John with immense speed. However, the Jedi was nowhere to be seen. Not a single person had seen the Jedi moving and yet he somehow disappeared!

In fact, the Jedi had used his incredible speed to pass through the formation through the gap opened when the two Sith moved forward to rescue John. So, the Jedi was now behind the Sith! The only weakness that the Crescent Formation had was that if someone attacked from behind, the Formation would collapse. The Jedi knew that and there were only two ways for him to outflank the Formation: To either somersault and land behind the Formation, something almost impossible, or to create a gap in the formation and pass through it. The Jedi chose the second option and used John to create the gap. He had noticed that the Sith did not want to kill him, because when that Sith he had force pushed charged at John, he wanted to grab him, not hurt him.

Now, being behind the Sith, he had the advantage. He gathered all the force he could use and forced pushed the Sith. The gust of wind created by the force push was so powerful that the formation was broken. Now, every Sith was on his own. In only a few seconds, the Jedi had finished off all of them. He beheaded the first Sith, stabbed his lightsaber twice on the back of the second Sith, cut in half the third Sith, stabbed the chest the fourth Sith, force chocked the fifth Sith, forced pushed the sixth Sith sending him in a collision course with the Cantina's wall, killing him, cut both arms of the seventh Sith, stabbed the lung of the eighth Sith, cut horizontally the ninth Sith and castrated the tenth Sith. All of those moves had been made in only a few seconds!

John was terrified and amazed both at the same time. He had witnessed the violent killing of ten people in only a few seconds and only a few moments ago he had avoided the Sith's lightsabers on the last second. But before he could calm down himself, he saw a young and very ugly man wearing a blue silk robe and holding a black umbrella walking towards the Jedi. In a split of a second, that man had thrown hundreds of silver needles on the Jedi, who used the force to push them back towards their owner. The ugly man moved with superhuman speed and dodged all needles.

"Impressive!", the ugly man roared. "Very impressive! At last, I have found a worthy opponent."

"Who are you?", the Jedi asked. "I have no past quarrels with you."

"Indeed. Neither do I. In fact, I have been traveling this vast Galaxy hoping to find a worthy opponent to fight. Unfortunately, I could not find any. Until I saw you killing those Sith punks. It impressed me enough to challenge you to a fight."

"What is your name?"

"Silver Needles Chang Anyi. What about you?"

"Maximilian Krat."

"Good! You are the famous Jedi Knight who massacred a hundred Sith on the Battle of Hoth. If I kill you, I will instantly become famous across the Galaxy."

Maximilian laughed. "Indeed. If you kill me, you shall become quite famous. But what are the chances of you winning?"

Chang laughed too.

"No many, but I like taking risks."

Chang threw without a notice tens of silver needles. Maximilian used his lightsaber to deflect them, but more and more were being thrown at him. A less skilled Jedi would have been killed. Chang, seeing that he had forced Maximilian on the defensive, threw a smoke grenade at him. When it exploded, smoke covered the place and Maximilian could not see anything. Now, he had to rely on the force and his other senses. He sensed a slight disturbance in the force. He turned to his left and deflected the needles with his lightsaber. He then turned to his right and force pushed away the other needles. When the smoke cleared away, Maximilian was still alive.

"Impossible!", Chang exclaimed.

"Nothing is impossible for a Jedi", Maximilian simply commented.

Before Chang could throw more needles, Maximilian had already thrown his lightsaber at him. The lightsaber stabbed Chang's chest, killing him. Maximilian then used the force to get back his lightsaber which he switched off. John had his mouth wide open, not being able to comprehend what just happened. Before he could ask the Jedi what he doing on this planet, he saw an other man approaching the Jedi. This time, it was an old man with a completely shaved hair and a long white beard. He was wearing a yellow silk robe. He was accompanied by a tall green male Twi'lek.

"That is quite some skills you have!", the man in yellow exclaimed.

"You are?", Maximilian asked.

"Fang Ying, sworn brother of Chang Anyi."

"And I am Robert Fox", the Twi'lek said.

"That means I will have to fight you too?", Maximilian sighed.

"Indeed!", Fang shouted.

Fang charged forward with his right palm, aiming at the stomach of the opponent. Maximilian saw Fang's palm coming towards him, but did not move until it was one inch away from his stomach. He then moved a bit to the left while gently pushing his opponent forward by using his right palm. This caused Fang to almost fall on the ground. Had it been someone else, he would have surely lost his balance.

The Twi'lek also charged at Maximilian holding a vibrosword on his hands. He somersaulted and aimed at Maximilian's back, but the Jedi used the force to push him away. Fang, seizing on the chance, sent out a back kick followed by three flying kicks, but Maximilian was able to dodge all of them. Meanwhile, Robert was back on his feet and charged once again with his vibrosword, but Maximilian force chocked him, killing the unlucky Twi'lek. Fang used this chance to flee. Maximilian did not chase him. He had already killed far too many men on this day.

Maximilian pointed at John and said: "You, come with me!"

"What?"

"The Sith will sent more men to capture you."

"Why?"

"Don't know. Go ask them.", Maximilian laughed. "I came here to search for two Jedi Knights who had come on this planet."

John realized that Maximilian was talking about the two Jedi that the handsome man had killed a few days ago. He explained to him what happened.

Maximilian let out a long sigh. "This was a great blow to the Jedi order. Those two Knights were some of the best fighters in the Order. Anyway, come with me."

John did not need much persuasion. Even if the Sith were not after him, he would have never missed this chance to leave Carleria and escape from Han. Especially if he could follow a powerful Jedi Knight who could be persuaded to train him in the way of the force.


End file.
